Lunch with David Rennie

Brussels really does have the weather that London is reputed to have: drizzle every day, a storm every weekend, and no summer to speak of. I skid down the dogshit-and-rain smeared streets to have lunch today with my Economist colleague, David Rennie, who proves remarkably cheerful considering the stygian gloom he inhabits.

We try conscientiously to list reasons why Belgiumâ€”and, come to that, the European Unionâ€”should continue in business as going concerns. Not much luck on either count. David defends the Single Market as a worthwhile venture for the EU, but even there I am no longer so sure: one of my dreams is to see France returned to the level of affordability it enjoyed in the early part of the last century, when penniless writers could drink daily at the Deux Magots, and Saint-Tropez was a cheap place to spend the summer. Might not a spate of protectionism brought about by a collapse of the Single Market push France in that direction? I am prepared to take the risk.

As for Belgium, the more I look at it, the more ridiculous attempts at national salvation appear. I hear there were so few Flemings at Sunday's national-unity demonstration, for example, that some Francophones were chanting in heavily-accented Dutch to give the impression of greater Flemish numbers.

Economically, Belgium consists almost entirely of debt, piled up thanks to the competing irresponsibility of its rival regions. A national break-up would provide not only a spur to more prudence in the future, but also an immediate argument for a debt restructuring, and doubtless for an avalanche of EU subsidies too. Profitez-en!

And why not by baby steps? I see from reading David's excellent blog that there seems little prospect of a government until Christmas at best. At this rate, the various bits of the soon-to-be ex-Belgium could conduct useful experiments in practical independence while still waiting nominally for their next federal government to form.